FOOTBALL: Dalano hoping to bounce back at Annandale

DELANO — Delano will look to the road to try and recuperate from a tough homecoming loss to Dassel-Cokato last week. The Tigers head to Annandale Friday night to play a Cardinals team that is riding a three-game winning streak.

Annandale enters the game against Delano off a 42-18 win at Watertown-Mayer. The Cardinals are 4-1.

Dassel-Cokato’s running game, led by Blake Johnson’s 174 yards and three touchdowns, shocked the Tigers 35-21 last week.

The Tigers are 3-2 overall.

Annandale’s only loss is to that same Dassel-Cokato team, 29-26, in a Week 2 thriller.

Johnson ran for three touchdowns in that game, but the Cardinals kept him in check, allowing him to rush for 25 yards on just 10 carries.

Dassel-Cokato is the only like-opponent for Delano and Annandale.

Annandale limited the Chargers’ offense to 249 yards — 123 on the ground and 126 through the air.

Dassel-Cokato gained 460 yards — 201 on the ground and 259 through the air — against Delano last week.

Delano would like to get the ground game going Friday night against Annandale. Sam Kern leads the Tigers with 351 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Here, Kern follows the lead block of Justin McNeilly during a game earlier this season.Photo by Matt Kane

As for what Delano can expect from Annandale’s offense Friday night, a duel-threat quarterback.

According to Football Hub, senior Peyton Fobbe has thrown for 893 yards and 11 touchdowns, and has run for 179 yards and two scores.

To say the Cardinals spread the ball around is an understatement. Twelve Cardinals have run the ball, and 10 have caught passes.

Fobbe easily leads the team with just 51 rushes through five games. His 179 yards is one less than the team lead of 180 gained by Riley Niedzielski in just 18 carries.

Niedzielski has two touchdowns.

Jordan Picka’s 27 carries ranks second on the team. He has 111 yards.

Fobbe’s two main targets in the passing game have been senior Cam Howard and junior Paul Meyer.

Howard has caught 22 passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Meyer has 21 catches for a team-leading 343 yards and four touchdowns.

Junior Alan Luna has 12 catches for 143 yards and three touchdowns, and senior Boyd Rassatt has nine catches for 139 yards and one score.

On defense, the Cardinals do have some ball hawks. Collectively, Annandale has intercepted 10 passes.

Cornerback Andrew Bowman and Picka, a linebacker, both have three interceptions. Linebacker Nick Moe has two, and cornerbacks Jack Magrum and Mitchell Sullivan have one each.

These defenders will be busy against the Delano offense, which isn’t afraid to throw the football.

Playing from behind all game, junior quarterback Max Otto chucked the football 39 times last week against Dassel-Cokato. He completed 18 passes for 372 yards and three touchdowns.

It was the first 300-yard passing game of Otto’s career. It was his third-consecutive game with three touchdown passes.

Otto has thrown two-or-more touchdowns in all five games. He threw for four scores in the Week 2 win over Little Falls. Otto threw two touchdown passes in the Week 1 loss at Zimmerman.

For the season, Otto has 1,210 yards and 15 touchdowns through the air. He has been intercepted three times, and has a passer rating of 123.9.

Reno Bredahl and Brett Unrein have been Otto’s favorite targets.

Unrein has 20 catches for 310 yards. His 16-yard touchdown catch in the loss to Dassel-Cokato was his first touchdown of the season.

Unrein had 113 receiving yards against the Chargers.

Bredahl has 18 catches for 396 yards and six touchdowns.

Tight end Trey Longstreet has 15 catches for 210 yards and four touchdowns, and halfback Sam Kern has 13 catches for 185 yards and a touchdown.

Kern is Delano’s leading ground-gainer. He has run for 351 yards and three touchdowns on 68 carries (5.2 yards per carry).

Fullback Caden Link has three rushing touchdowns.

Link is the leader of the Tiger defense. The senior linebacker has 42 tackles, one forced fumble and one interception.